Monsters: A Physical Being or a Physiological Disorder?

Monsters:

A Physical Being or a Physiological Disorder?

By: Chelsea Phillips

Monsters: A Physical Being or a Physiological Disorder?

Chelsea Phillips

Mrs. Karen Redding

English 1102

2 May 2012

English 1102 Final Portfolio

Monsters: A Physical Being or a Physiological Disorder?

Table of Contents

Analytical Cover Letter…………………...………………………………………………..………...……1

Quality Comparison……………………………………………………………………………………….……

Least Successful Paper (The original final draft submitted to me) ……………...……3

Most Successful Paper (The original final draft submitted to me)….……………...…5

“What’s the Difference?” Paragraphs………………………………………………………………..8

Revision Samples………………………………..………………………………………...…………………

Least Successful Paper (with mark-up) ……………………………...………….…………….…9

Least Successful Paper (new final version) …………..……………...………………….……11

Most Successful Paper (with mark-up) ……………………………...…………..……….……15

Most Successful Paper (new final version) …………..……………...……….……….……18

Free Choice Essay (with mark-up) ……...…………………………...……………..…….……22

Free Choice Essay (new final version) …….………………………...………………...……26

Analytical Letter

2 May 2012

Karen P. Redding

Assistant Professor of English

Gainesville State College

Oconee Campus

Office 206

1202 Bishop Farms Parkway

Watkinsville, Ga 30677

Dear Mrs. Redding,

As I look back over the semester I am toughly pleased with the progress I have made as

an academic writer. When the semester started I was honestly not looking forward to my

second English class. For as long as I can remember I remember I have not been continent in my

writing. I struggled with getting my thoughts organized and written down in a way that the

reader could understand.

After sitting down and talking to you I realized that I had good ideas and they were well

organized, what I needed was to explain my ideas further. For example, in the scene where

they are looking for Sonny in the warehouse full of NS-5 robots and the robots are standing

uniform in the warehouse, Del places a gun to several of the robots’ heads, and there is no

reaction. The fact that there was no reaction proves that the life of the robots is artificial. It is

inhuman to stand by idly while one’s own get s shot (Phillips paper 2). In the last sentence I

explained further, so now the reader understands why it is that the robots actions are in

Analytical Letter

human. Another thing I needed to improve on was my topic sentences. Alex Proyas uses color

to suggest the idea of artificial life (Phillips paper 2).

I really enjoyed the theme of monsters, and learning about all of the different types and

how they played a role in literature. I also enjoyed learning about the films, and how the use of

lighting and position of the camera suggest different things. Through the online discussions I

have learned that everyone’s thought process is different. By reading and commenting on the

discussions I got to see the information from a different point of view and it helped me to form

a solid understanding of the information and topics covered in this class.

I want to thank you for taking the time to answer Email, talking with me in class, and in

your office. You have helped me become a more confident writer and I cannot thank you

enough.

Sincerely,

Chelsea Marie Phillips

Least Successful Original

Chelsea Phillips

English 1102/Professor Redding

Paper 1

24 January 2012

“Monsters in Today’s Western Society”

Monsters play a huge role in today’s western society. I feel like every time I turn around,

I'm hearing something about a new monster show or movie either an exorcism, vampire, serial

killer or zombie. So how do we identify monsters? Are monsters a category of living beings or a

label we apply to a given situation in which we do not understand? Generation after generation

monsters stick around, why do they play such an important role in our lives?

Ingbebretsen’s article, Politics in the Making, is about why we have monsters and how

our society depends on monsters to function. Monsters give us guidelines of how not to act

(Ingebretsen 29). The tabloids amplify the stories of monsters by watching the story unfold

society can see the actions that were frowned upon so they can avoid the same mistakes. One

example used by Ingebretsen is Jeffery Dahmer, who was a serial killer and sex offender. One

proposition from Ingebretsen that the monster must be staked. Jeffery Dahmer was brutally

beaten to death by an inmate with a broom. The article states that the monster must die, but it

can never me our fault. “By framing Dahmer as a ‘monster’ we are excused from

complicity”(Ingebreten 25). We can excuse the wrongful act of the inmate and our hands are

clean of his killing. The monster has been staked so society can rest easy knowing the monster

is dead.

Least Successful Original

In Asma’a article Monsters and the Moral Imagination he explains the spike in monster

interest in today’s society. Like Ingebretsen, Asma believes the tabloids play a big role. He also

believes the anxiety caused by 9/11, or the war in Iraq, maybe even the poor economy play a

role. Much like Ingebretsen, Asma believes in order for us to know our values we must face

affliction like, distress, grief, misery, suffering, trials, worry, or wretchedness, monsters help us

to envision ourselves in the situation and rehearse our responses. Asma states, “We turn to

monsters as a way to help us envision a good and secure life”(Asma2). These monsters may not

be vampires or werewolves but people in our everyday lives.

Towards the end of Ingebretsen’s article he writes, “Although monsters may be coded

as foreign or outlandish, rarely are they alien. They are us, are failed selves”(Ingebretsen 29).

This makes the idea of humanized monsters so much scarier. If the monster is human, how do

you pick him or her out in a crowd, how do you know who the monster is? What stops someone

from pegging you as a monster. Ingebretsen states that a truly effective monster is local, always

nearby (Inbebresten 31). Such as a mentally ill man who snaps at a coffee shop and starts a

stabbing frenzy, the front line of war or a robbery.

Both Asma and Ingebretsen support the idea that monsters are part of our everyday

lives. Monsters are in the Western society to help us cope with anxiety and identify our values.

Without monsters essentially we would be lost. We would have no one to set the boundary for

how far is to far.

Most successful original

Chelsea Phillips


Paper 2

27 February 2012

I, Robot:Digging Down Deep

I, Robot is a science fiction thriller, based on a series of books. The series is compiled of

nine short stories written by Isaac Asimov and published in 1950. Alex Proyas, the director of I,

Robot, is a seasoned science fiction thriller director known for such films as Knowing, The Crow,

and Dark City. The film is set in the year 2035, a time where the world is greatly dependent on

technology. The film starts by explaining the three laws of robotics. Law one, a Robot may not

injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Law two, a

robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with

the first law. Law three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does

not conflict with the first or second law.

Due to the three laws of robotics, society has deemed robots safe. Robots are used in

homes, as well as businesses. They are used for dog walking, trash service, mail delivery, and

personal at-home assistants. Del Spooner, Will Smith’s character, seems to be the only person

who does not like robots; in fact, he hates them. The headquarters of the robot industry is

called United States Robots or USR for short. The USR is located right in the heart of Chicago,

where Del Spooner lives and is a local cop. When the co-founder of the USR and inventor of the

three Laws of robotics is found dead, Del is put on the case. Spooner suspects that the death

was a homicide, not a suicide; he thinks that a robot is responsible. He has a hard time getting


anyone to take him seriously, as people feel a robot cannot possibly harm a human being.

Susan Calvin, played by Bridget Moynahan, is a robot psychiatrist who works for the USR.

Susan has been told to assist Del in any way she can to get the case cleared. She soon becomes

Del’s unlikely sidekick.

I, Robot was a great movie that kept our interest the whole time. No matter how many

times Del was told that it was impossible for a robot to harm a human, he still tried to break

through to them. He never gave up. In I, Robot, Alex Proyas uses light, shadows, and color in

order to highlight the falseness of artificial life and show good versus bad.

When reviewing some of the individual clips in I, Robot, we noticed little clues that the

director gives the audience. For example, the robots are lit with an internal light; this light is a

symbol for their artificial life. In the scene where they are looking for Sonny in the warehouse

full of NS-5 robots and the robots are standing uniform in the warehouse, Del places a gun to

several of the robots’ heads, and there is no reaction. The fact that there was no reaction

proves that the life of the robots is artificial. It is inhuman to stand by idly while one’s own kind

is shot. Another example is Spooner’s car accident. The robot that saves him has the same

artificial light in his eyes. It is very unlikely that a human would have saved Spooner over Sarah,

the twelve-year-old girl in the other car.

Alex Proyas uses color to suggest the idea of life. For example, the NS-5 robots have

colored eyes, and the NS-4 robots have colored exterior. It is more difficult to trust technology

and a fellow human. By using colors on the exterior or for their eyes makes the robots start to

look more familiar. Another example is V.I.K.I., which is the system that is very colorful and


bright as if the system were alive. When Del Spooner injects the serum that will terminate

V.I.K.I., color starts to dissolve and becomes black; this signifies her death

Throughout the movie shadows are used to propose good versus bad and can be seen

with the use of shadows. In I,Robot the use of the shadow is on the good guy, not the bad as in

most cases. In the scene where the NS-5 robots first attack Del Spooner in the tunnel, the

robots are well lit by lights in the tunnel, and Spooner is covered in shadows. As we know that

Del Spooner is the good guy in this case, we can see that the robots are bad. Another example

is when the robots are walking through town telling all of the humans to return home. The

robots are well lit again in this scene, and there is a faint shadow on the ground behind each of

them. All of the people in the street have shadows on their faces and bodies; there is also a

dark shadow on the ground behind them.

In conclusion, I Robot was an interesting movie. The determination of the main

character kept the action and suspense throughout the movie. The director makes great use of

lights, colors, and shadows to bring the movie together creating the theme of the movie,

showing that robots can be looked at as humans.

Quality Comparison

I think that my second paper is the more successful of the two papers I have written this

semester. In my second paper my thesis is clear and my topic sentences help the reader jump

right into the paragraph. In my first paper my thesis was not very clear and I had a hard time

staying on topic. My second paper does have a little more back ground information than

needed, but over all I think it is a better paper.

Least Successful Mark up

Chelsea Phillips


Paper 1

24 January 2012

“Monsters in Today’s Western Society”

Monsters play a huge role in today’s western society. I feel like every time I turn

around, I'm hearing something about a new monster show or movie either an exorcism,

vampire, serial killer or zombie. So how do we identify monsters? Are monsters a

category of living beings or a label we apply to a given situation in which we do not

understand? Generation after generation monsters stick around, why do they play such

an important role in our lives?

Ingbebretsen’s article, Politics in the Making, is about why we have monsters and

how our society depends on monsters to function. Monsters give us guidelines of how

not to act (Ingebretsen 29). The tabloids amplify the stories of monsters by watching the

story unfold society can see the actions that were frowned upon so they can avoid the

same mistakes. One example used by Ingebretsen is Jeffery Dahmer. One proposition

from Ingebretsen is that the monster must be staked. Jeffery Dahmer was brutally

beaten to death by an inmate with a broom. The article states that the monster must die,

but it can never me our fault. “By framing Dahmer as a ‘monster’ we are excused from

complicity”(Ingebreten 25). We can excuse the wrongful act of the inmate and our

hands are clean of his killing. The monster has been staked so society can rest easy

knowing the monster is dead.

In Asma’a article Monsters and the Moral Imagination he explains the spike in

monster interest in today’s society. Like Ingebretsen, Asma believes the tabloids play a

Comment [c1]: no spacing then double space

Comment [c2]: no quotes in title

Comment [c3]: Remove

Comment [c4]: Needs to be rewritten so that It’s not a question but a statement

Comment [c5]: A Politics of Persuasion

Least Successful Mark up

big role. He also believes the anxiety caused by 9/11, or the war in Iraq, maybe even the

poor economy play a role. Much like Ingebretsen, Asma believes in order for us to know

our values we must face affliction like, distress, grief, misery, suffering, trials, worry, or

wretchedness, monsters help us to envision ourselves in the situation and rehearse our

responses. Asma states, “We turn to monsters as a way to help us envision a good and

secure life” (Asma2). These monsters may not be vampires or werewolves but people in

our everyday lives

Towards the end of Ingebretsen’s article he writes, “Although monsters may be

coded as foreign or outlandish, rarely are they alien. They are us, are failed selves”

(Ingebretsen 29). This makes the idea of humanized monsters so much scarier. If the

monster is human, how do you pick him or her out in a crowd, how do you know who

the monster is? What stops someone from pegging you as a monster? Ingebretsen states

that a truly effective 2monster is local, always nearby (Inbebresten 31). Such as a

mentally ill man who 2snaps at a coffee shop and starts a stabbing frenzy, the front line

of war or a robbery.

Both Asma and Ingebretsen support the idea that monsters are part of our

everyday lives. Monsters are in the Western society to help us cope with anxiety and

identify our values. Without monsters essentially we would be lost. We would have no

one to set the boundary for how far is to far.

Comment [c6]: need to shorted

Comment [c7]: Asma 2

Comment [c8]: Needs more about why monsters help us envision a good and secure life

Comment [c9]: cite

Comment [c10]: ,how would one know when enough is enough/ how would we know where the boundaries are/how far is too far?

Comment [c11]: too

Comment [c12]: works cited page

Least Successful Final

Chelsea Phillips


Paper 1

24 January 2012

Monsters in Today’s Western Society

Monsters play a huge role in today’s western society. I feel like every time I turn around,

I'm hearing something about a new monster show or movie an exorcism, vampire, serial killer

or zombie. Monsters are next to impossible to identify. There are several categories that

monsters could be places in. For example Sully from Monster Inc. was a monster but he was

kind and gently not scary and vicious. Then there is Jeffery Dahmer who was a Serial killer, child

molester and a cannibal. Generation after generation monsters stick around so there must be

some significance to the role they play in our lives.

Ingbebretsen’s article, A Politics of Persuasion, is about why we have monsters and how

our society depends on monsters to function. Monsters give us guidelines of how not to act

(Ingebretsen 29). The tabloids amplify the stories of monsters by watching the story unfold

society can see the actions that were frowned upon so they can avoid the same mistakes. One

example used by Ingebretsen is Jeffery Dahmer, who was a serial killer and sex offender. One

proposition from Ingebretsen is that the monster must be staked. Jeffery Dahmer was brutally

beaten to death by an inmate with a broom. The article states that the monster must die, but it

can never me our fault. “By framing Dahmer as a ‘monster’ we are excused from

complicity”(Ingebreten 25). We can excuse the wrongful act of the inmate and our hands are


clean of his killing. The monster has been staked so society can rest easy knowing the monster

is dead.

In Asma’a article Monsters and the Moral Imagination he explains the spike in monster

interest in today’s society. Like Ingebretsen, Asma believes the tabloids play a big role. He also

believes the anxiety caused by 9/11, or the war in Iraq, maybe even the poor economy play a

role. Much like Ingebretsen, Asma believes in order for us to know our values we must face

affliction like, distress, grief, misery, or wretchedness, monsters help us to envision ourselves in

the situation and rehearse our responses. Asma states, “We turn to monsters as a way to help

us envision a good and secure life” (Asma2). These monsters may be vampires, werewolves, or

serial killers knowing our values and rehearsed responses help to feel secure and at ease we

feel like we would be caught less off guard.

Towards the end of Ingebretsen’s article he writes, “Although monsters may be coded

as foreign or outlandish, rarely are they alien. They are us, are failed selves”(Ingebretsen 29).

This makes the idea of humanized monsters so much scarier. If the monster is human, how do

you pick him or her out in a crowd, how do you know who the monster is? What stops someone

from pegging you as a monster. Ingebretsen states that a truly effective monster is local, always

nearby (Inbebresten 31). Such as a mentally ill man who snaps at a coffee shop and starts a

stabbing frenzy, the front line of war or a robbery.

Both Asma and Ingebretsen support the idea that monsters are part of our everyday

lives. Monsters are in the Western society to help us cope with anxiety and identify our values

(Asma 1). Without monsters essentially we would be unsure about when enough was enough.


We would have no one to set the boundary for how far is too far. Monsters help us have a

better understanding of where we stand between good and evil.


Work Cited

Asma, T. Stephen. Monsters and the Moral Imagination. Web. 20 January 2012.

Ingebretsen, Edward. “Monster Making: A Politics of Persuasion.” Journal of American Culture. ESBCO Host. Web. Accessed Jan 17, 2012.

Most Successful Mark Up

Chelsea Phillips


Paper 2

27 February 2012

I, Robot: Digging Down Deep

I, Robot is a science fiction thriller, based on a series of books. The series is compiled of

nine short stories written by Isaac Asimov and published in 1950. Alex Proyas, the director of I,

Robot, is a seasoned science fiction thriller director known for such films as Knowing, The Crow,

and Dark City. The film is set in the year 2035, a time where the world is greatly dependent on

technology. The film starts by explaining the three laws of robotics. Law one, a Robot may not

injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Law two, a

robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with

the first law. Law three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does

not conflict with the first or second law. . In I, Robot, Alex Proyas uses light, shadows, and color

in order to highlight the falseness of artificial life and show good versus bad

Due to the three laws of robotics, society has deemed robots safe. Robots are used in

homes, as well as businesses. They are used for dog walking, trash service, mail delivery, and

personal at-home assistants. Del Spooner, Will Smith’s character, seems to be the only person

who does not like robots; in fact, he hates them. The headquarters of the robot industry is

called United States Robots or USR for short. The USR is located right in the heart of Chicago,

where Del Spooner lives and is a local cop. When the co-founder of the USR and inventor of the

three Laws of robotics is found dead, Del is put on the case. Spooner suspects that the death

Comment [c1]: A closer look

Comment [c2]: too wordy

Comment [c3]: or trust


was a homicide, not a suicide; he thinks that a robot is responsible. He has a hard time getting

anyone to take him seriously, as people feel a robot cannot possibly harm a human being.

Susan Calvin, played by Bridget Moynahan, is a robot psychiatrist who works for the USR.

Susan has been told to assist Del in any way she can to get the case cleared. She soon becomes

Del’s unlikely sidekick.

I, Robot was a great movie that kept our interest the whole time. No matter how many

times Del was told that it was impossible for a robot to harm a human, he still tried to break

through to them. He never gave up. In I, Robot, Alex Proyas uses light, shadows, and color in

order to highlight the falseness of artificial life and show good versus bad.

When reviewing some of the individual clips in I, Robot, we noticed little clues that the

director gives the audience. For example, the robots are lit with an internal light; this light is a

symbol for their artificial life. In the scene where they are looking for Sonny in the warehouse

full of NS-5 robots and the robots are standing uniform in the warehouse, Del places a gun to

several of the robots’ heads, and there is no reaction. The fact that there was no reaction

proves that the life of the robots is artificial. It is inhuman to stand by idly while one’s own kind

is shot. Another example is Spooner’s car accident. The robot that saves him has the same

artificial light in his eyes. It is very unlikely that a human would have saved Spooner over Sarah,

the twelve-year-old girl in the other car.

Alex Proyas uses color to suggest the idea of life. For example, the NS-5 robots have

colored eyes, and the NS-4 robots have colored exterior. It is more difficult to trust technology

and a fellow human. By using colors on the exterior or for their eyes makes the robots start to

look more familiar. Another example is V.I.K.I., which is the system that is very colorful and

Comment [c4]: aff of this is about the movie not about how Alex Proyas uses light ,color ,and shadows to highlight he falseness of artificial life and show good versus evil.

Comment [c5]: not needed need another sentence about how the light in the eyes is relevant

Comment [c6]: artificial

Comment [c7]: super computer that controls the USR main building


bright as if the system were alive. When Del Spooner injects the serum that will terminate

V.I.K.I., color starts to dissolve and becomes black; this signifies her death.


with the use of shadows. In I, Robot the use of the shadow is on the good guy, not the bad as in


robots are well lit by lights in the tunnel, and Spooner is covered in shadows. As we know that

Del Spooner is the good guy in this case, we can see that the robots are bad. Another example

is when the robots are walking through town telling all of the humans to return home. The

robots are well lit again in this scene, and there is a faint shadow on the ground behind each of

them. All of the people in the street have shadows on their faces and bodies; there is also a

dark shadow on the ground behind them.

In conclusion, I Robot was an interesting movie. The determination of the main

character kept the action and suspense throughout the movie. The director makes great use of

lights, colors, and shadows to bring the movie together creating the theme of the movie,

showing that robots can be looked at as humans.

Comment [c8]: the robots also have the internal light signifying artificial life

Comment [c9]: the conclusion needs to be rewritten

Most successful Final

Chelsea Phillips


Paper 2

27 February 2012

I, Robot: A Closer Look

I, Robot is a science fiction thriller, based on a series of nine short storieswritten by Isaac

Asimov and published in 1950. Alex Proyas, the director of I, Robot, is a seasoned science

fiction thriller director known for such films as Knowing, The Crow, and Dark City. The film is set

in the year 2035, a time where the world is greatly dependent on technology. The film starts by

explaining the three laws of robotics. Law one, a Robot may not injure a human being or,

through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Law two, a robot must obey orders

given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law. Law three,

a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first

or second law.

In I, Robot, there are little clues that the director gives the audience so they can experience

the movie the way he intended. For example, the robots are lit with an internal light; this light

is a symbol for their artificial life. In the scene where they are looking for Sonny in the

warehouse full of NS-5 robots and the robots are standing uniform in the warehouse, Del places

a gun to several of the robots’ heads, and there is no reaction. The fact that there was no

reaction proves that the life of the robots is artificial. It is inhuman to stand by idly while one’s

own gets shot. Another example is Spooner’s car accident. The robot that saves him has the


same artificial light in his eyes. Thought the robots eyes are modeled after human eyes,

humans do not have an internal light.

Alex Proyas uses color to suggest the idea of artificial life. For example, the NS-5 robots

have colored eyes, and the NS-4 robots have colored exterior. Naturally it is more difficult to

trust technology and a fellow human. By using colors on the exterior or for their eyes makes

the robots start to look more familiar, more alive. Another example is V.I.K.I., which is the

super computer that controls the main building of the USR. V.I.K.I is very colorful the system is

blue, green, purple white and brightly lit as if the system were alive. When Del Spooner injects

the serum that will terminate V.I.K.I., the color starts to dissolve and fade the system becomes

black; this signifies the death of V.I.K.I.


with the use of shadows. In I,Robot the use of the shadow is on the good guy, not the bad as in


robots are well lit by lights in the tunnel and the artificial internal light, and Spooner is covered

in shadows. As we know that Del Spooner is the good guy in this case, we can see that the

robots are bad. Another example is when the robots are walking through town telling all of the

humans to return home. The robots are well lit again in this scene by their internal light and

there is a faint shadow on the ground behind each of them. All of the people in the street have

shadows on their faces and bodies; there is also a dark shadow on the ground behind them. The

use of the shadows helps the audience to identify who is good and who is bad. The robots are

well light with the internal light signifying artificial life in this case they are the bad guys so

artificial life is bad.


In conclusion, Alex Proyas did a fabulous job with the using the equipment he had to

give the audience the clues they needed to fully understands the movie. He gave a constant

reminder that even thought the robots had some human characteristics their life was artificial

and fake. He also used the shadows to highlight the characters that were good and bad.


Works Cited

I,Robot. DIR. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 2004

Free Choice Mark Up

Discrimination is the unfair treatment of a person, racial group, or minority

based on prejudice. The movie Crash tells the story of several individuals living in Los Angeles

over a day and a half. The movie shows how each of the individuals are discriminated against.

While watching the movie Crash I saw several examples of discrimination these are two that

stood out to me. Jean Cabot says that she wants the locks on the house changed again in the

morning. She does not feel safe because the man changing the locks is a Mexican. She believes

that the Mexican is a gang banger because he has a shaved head and tattoos. She tells her

husband that the Mexican is going to sell the house keys to some of his gang friends. Jean

Cabot’s reaction to the Mexican is an example of simple discrimination and institutional

discrimination because she is looping him in with the Hispanic minority group. The other

example when the Persian and his daughter are in the pawn shop trying to buy a gun for the

store. The owner of the pawn shop yells “Yo, Osama! Plan a jihad on your own time.” This is an

example of simple individual discrimination and because he is judging the man on his skin color

and by the way he is speaking

A stereotype is a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a

group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly. When Jean Cabot was

judging the Hispanic character Lucien she was placing him in a stereotype. She thought that he

was a gang banger and wanted to sell the keys to her house just because he was. However, he

was a hardworking family man just trying to support his wife and young daughter. Another

Comment [c1]: Needs a title and header

Comment [c2]: Needs a better hook

Comment [c3]: Needs to be italicized

Comment [c4]: Needs to be italicized

Comment [c5]: The first is when….

Comment [c6]: , Lucien,

Comment [c7]: Lucien

Comment [c8]: Lucien

Comment [c9]: Lucien being a

Comment [c10]: Second

Comment [c11]: His accent

Comment [c12]: he was a Mexican with tattoos

Free Choice Mark Up

example of a stereotype is when the cops pull the black couple over. Even after realizing that

they had the wrong car the cop still proceeds with harassing the couple. He assumes that

because they are black that they must be up to no good. When in reality they were coming

from a dinner party and had done nothing wrong. The cop has a hatred for blacks because his

father owned a business where he employed people of color. In the end the companies owned

by colered people were the only ones to receive benefits. His father’s business shut down. The

cop blames the people of color all of them for the of his father’s company failing.

Though Crash does an excellent job breaking down several stereotypes; however,

there are a few that it does not break down. For example, when Jean Cabot is walking down the

street, in the beginning of the movie, and she sees the two black characters she moves closer to

her husband. She is assuming that the two black males are out to jump her or rob her. Shortly

after the couple passes the two males they draw guns and commandeer their vehicle. She

placed the two males in a stereotype that they were thugs that were out for her money. They

were not out for her money, but they were out for her car. This movie is very controversial. I

feel that this movies purpose is to make every ethnic take a second look at discrimination. Just

about every ethnic group is depicted in this movie and it shows how someone’s actions can

cause a ripple effect on discrimination.

In the end I feel that every character was discriminated against. Some of the people

changed their attitudes by the end of the movie. For example, the car thief is offered money for

the Chinese men and instead of taking the money he takes them to Chinatown and sets them

free.

Comment [c13]: Needs to be reworded. The sentences do not flow.

Comment [c14]: remove

Comment [c15]: remove

Comment [c16]: group

Free Choice Final

Chelsea Phillips Professor Katie James Sociology 1101 12 April 2011

Crash

“The divide of race has been America's constant curse. Each new wave of immigrants

gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of

religious or political conviction, are no different. They have nearly destroyed us in the past.

They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. They torment the lives of millions in

fractured nations around the world. These obsessions cripple both those who are hated and, of

course, those who hate, robbing both of what they might become” a quote by Bill Clinton.

The movie Crash tells the story of several individuals living in Los Angeles over a thirty six hour

period. The movie shows how each of the individuals are discriminated against.

Discrimination is unfair treatment of a person, racial group, or minority

based on prejudice. While watching the movie crash I saw several examples of discrimination,

here are two that stood out to me. The first is when Jean Cabot played by Sandra Bullock tells

her husband that she wants the locks on the house changed again in the morning. She does not

feel safe because, Lucien, the man changing the locks is a Mexican. She believes that the Lucien

is a gang banger because he has a shaved head and tattoos. She tells her husband that Lucien

going to sell the house keys to some of his gang friends. Jean Cabot’s reaction to Lucien being a

Mexican is an example of simple discrimination and institutional discrimination because she is

Free Choice Final

looping him in with the Hispanic minority group. The second example when the Persian and his

daughter are in the pawn shop trying to buy a gun for the store. The owner of the pawn shop

yells “Yo, Osama! Plan a jihad on your own time.” The pawn shop owner assumed that he was

Arab because of the color of his skin. This is an example of simple individual discrimination and

because he is judging the man on his skin color and by his accent

A stereotype is a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a

group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly. When Jean Cabot was

judging the Hispanic character Lucien she was placing him in a stereotype. She thought that he

was a gang banger and wanted to sell the keys to her house just because he was a Mexican.

However, he was a hardworking family man just trying to support his wife and young daughter.

Another example of a stereotype is when the cops pull the black couple over. Even after

realizing that they had the wrong car one of the cops still precedes to harassing the couple. He

assumes that because they are black that they must be up to no good, but they were coming

from a dinner party and had done nothing wrong. The cop has a personal hatred for colored

people. When he was younger his father owned his own business, where he employed people

of color. When times got really tough the companies owned by colored people were given

benefits and the companies owned by whites were not, many of his colored employs left. His

father could no longer keep the business open and closed. The cop blames the people of color

for the failing of his father’s company.

Though Crash does an excellent job breaking down several stereotypes; however,

there are a few that it does not break down. For example, when Jean Cabot is walking down the

street, in the beginning of the movie, and she sees the two black characters she moves closer to

Free Choice Final

her husband. She is assuming that the two black males are out to jump her or rob her. Shortly

after the couple passes the two males draw guns and commandeer their vehicle. She placed the

two males in a stereotype that they were thugs that were out for her money. They were not out

for her money, but they were out for her car. This movie is very controversial. I feel that this

movies purpose is to make every ethnic group take a second look at discrimination. Just about

every ethnic group is depicted in this movie and it shows how someone’s actions can cause a

ripple effect on discrimination.

In the end I feel that every character was discriminated against. Some of the people

changed their attitudes by the end of the movie. For example the car thief is offered money for

the Chinese men and instead of taking the money he takes them to Chinatown and sets them

free.

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